The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-01-08
SELOUS. The HUNTER.
His Life and Achievements in the Wilder
ness of South Africa.

His Lifc and Achievements In the Wilder
ness of South Africa.
Now and then a man is seen in COM
paratively humble position whose fame
is almost world wide. Such man is
Mr.. F. C. Selous. Those who have
read any thing of South Africa havo
heard of Mr.. Selous, the great hunter.
He figures in probably every book that
has been written on South Africa for
the past fifteen years. He is the most
noted of African hunters, and has writ
ten book on his wanderings in Africa
that is regarded as guide to sport in
that part of the world. =
Selous rarely gets nearer to the coast
than Klerksdorp in the Transvaal, and
his hunting grounds are two months
travel north of that little town. He is
always accompanied by several negro
servants, who drive his two great OK
wagons and perform the usual duties
| of the camp. About once a year
Selous turns up in Klerksdorp with
his two wagons filled with ivory, hides,
horns, hunting trophies and other
products of the chase He is born
hunter. Like Daniel Boone, he loves
nothing SO much as to leave civilization
hundreds of miles behind him. He
buries himself in the great wilderness
south of the Zambesi, where native
tribes are few and feeble and game
is marvelously plentiful. There he
wanders at will shooting elephants,
antelopes, buffaloes and other big
| game. He carries with him supply
! of groceries, but lives largely on the
game he kills When he has loaded his
wagons he returns to the Transvaal
| trading post, where he sells the fruits
of his rifle sometimes for several thou
sands of dollars. He loads up with goods
| to barter among the natives, and is off
! again to the wilderness as soon as
| possible.
Selous has had many adventures, some
| of which were of a very unpleasant char
acter. In 1872 he wandered one day
away from his wagons, and was unable
to find them again. He was not in the
game country, but was in the midst OF
a trackless and un-parched wilderness,
through which he wandered for four
! days without particle of food or drink.
On one of his cheeks is deep scar.
where a wounded buffalo once tore the
| flesh with one of its horns. He hunts
over very wide range of country, and
now and then appears among tribes he
! has never visited before. Sometimes
the natives are not very hospitable, but
Selous has plenty of tact and makes
friends wherever his wanderings take
him. LIE Bengula, the powerful King
of the Matabeti, always permits Selous
to pass through his country on his hunt
ing tours, though he often denies the
requests of other white men. "Selous,"
said the savage monarch to Montagu
Kerr, sis q young lion"
Geographers the world over know Of
Solous. for he is almost as fond of ex-
plorations as he is of hunting, and, what
is better he can accurately describe
what he sees, and can make Il good
map of any region he visits. Once in
while one will see in some geographical
pclloulCdl u map VI o"iliC llN0A oii''o
Selous has traced from its source to its
mouth. 1t is always an atfluent of the
Limbafo or Zambesi rivers or of their
larger tributaries. In this way he has
largely extended his fame, for he has
made himself interesting not only to
lovers OF adventure and field sports,
but also to men of science. Selous is u
humble hunter and explorer, but there
is hardly white man in South Africa
who would not feel little pang if any
disaster befell him. He would be
mouned, too, by many thousands of
poor black people, and many friends he
never saw in Europe or America would
speak of him in words Of kind apprecia-
tion.-N. Y. Sun.